Bruce Boxleitner Will Replace Brent Spiner On ‘Supergirl’ Season Four

Data is out. Brent Spiner was previously announced as playing Vice President Baker in Season Four of ‘Supergirl’, but due to family matters that conflicted with filming, the ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ vet had to vacate that elected position. He will be replaced by Bruce Boxleitner.

The upcoming fourth season of ‘Supergirl’ will revolve around a “human first” storyline, in which regular Earth beings call for registration or banning of aliens on the planet. Sam Witwer will be at the center as Benjamin Lockwood, the leader of an anti-alien militia. In the comics, Lockwood is also known as Agent Liberty, but it’s unknown at this time whether or not he will adopt that guise on the show. Also part of this movement will be Mercy Graves, typically depicted as Lex Luthor’s bodyguard. She and her brother Otis (Robert Baker), named after Luthor’s henchman in the original ‘Superman’ movies (played by Ned Beatty), are at the forefront of the “human-first” movement. Rona Mitra will portray Mercy on ‘Supergirl’.

Of course, as we know, the President of the United States, Olivia Marsdin (Lynda Carter) is secretly a shape-shifting alien. So that fact will surely play a part in the unfolding storyline. And of course, Supergirl herself is an alien, as is Martian Manhunter. How will the show’s protagonists react to this swelling hatred? Will this mean a return for Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman? (Sadly, probably not.)

One possibility is that Marsdin will be outed, allowing Vice President Baker to ascend to the Presidency of the U.S.

Boxleitner is a genre vet, having starred in the original ‘TRON’ and the 2010 sequel ‘TRON: Legacy’. (He also lent his voice to the excellent and horribly underrated animated series ‘TRON: Uprising’.) Perhaps his big break was the ’80s era action drama ‘The Scarecrow and Mrs. King’, but he went on to headline the cult favorite ‘Babylon 5’. He has also appeared on ‘Chuck’ and ‘Cedar Cove’.

This fall, ‘Supergirl’ sails into a new night, on Sundays at 8pm. The first new episode will air on October 14.

Jax Motes

Jax's earliest memory is of watching 'Batman,' followed shortly by a memory of playing Batman & Robin with a friend, which entailed running outside in just their underwear and towels as capes. When adults told them they couldn't run around outside in their underwear, both boys promptly whipped theirs off and ran around in just capes.